[Boromir88]

I love how Tolkien brings out the Entish Race. He describes the Ents more as a "human," than as a tree-like being, and that's what I like about it.

They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large man-like, almost troll-like figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. At any rate the arms, at a short distances from the trunk, were not wrinkled, but covered with brown smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of hte long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light.

I love this because he gives the Ents "human" features head, hands, face, legs, toes...etc. He doesn't make them seem like trees, but an actual race (which they are). I admit when I first read this chapter, with the description, and the human features I actually thought it was a 15 foot tall giant.

Another thing, Tolkien influences on the Ent's eyes, throughout this whole chapter. I haven't figured this out yet. First,

These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light.

Treebeard raised himself from his bed with a jerk, stood up, and thumped his hand on the table. The vessels of light trembled and sent up two jets of flame. There was a flicker of green fire in his eyes.

In the first encounter there is a "green light," the second when Treebeard gets angry at Saruman there is a "green fire."

Bregalad, his eyes shining...

At last Pippin looked up, and Pippin could see a sad look in his eyes, sad but not unhappy. There was a light in them, as if the green flame had sunk deeper into the dark wells of his thought.

Tolkien is definately directing us to the Ents eyes, and especially this "green light/flame" in Treebeard's. And Pippin is intrigued by these "eyes," what is happening with them? Well, I'll leave that up to one of are great philosopher's to try and explain.

Some smaller things I wanted to point out were the Entwives, and the historian. I don't know if anyone on these forums believe this, but a common thought is Ents are slow and dumb. Slow, yes, because they like to go into deep thought. But not dumb, they were cured from their dumbness. If you look in this chapter, I am amazed how knowledgeable (it's a word now) Treebeard is, he is almost like a historian. He knows of the days long gone, when "woods filled the world," he remembers days when Celeborn was younger, he knows quite a bit about Saruman (eventhough he won't admit it).

The entwives is a sad story. I think the fact that their are "walking trees" spotted around the Shire, and Treebeard did say the Entwives would enjoy the Shire, would give some solid evidence the the Ents around the Shire are Entwives. However, Tolkien doesn't answer this question (atleast to my knowledge), and there's still room for doubt, if you ask me. They are Entwives . I think the moral behind the story of the Entwives is, that if you let go, or let slip past the people you care about, they could let you go .

Lastly, one quick comment. Treebeard says...

[Saruman] has a mind for metal and wheels...

This got me thinking about the upcoming battle between the Ents and Isengard. A battle of nature vs. metal(industry). The Ents (nature) vs. Isengard (industry). Reminded me of one of the best silent movies ever made, Metropolis. Where the main character (forget his name), has a stick, and he tries to pry open the metal doors he was locked in. This is the battle of nature vs industry in the movie, and the stick breaks!!!!.

Edit: Estelyn, you got me thinking again! (mutters of "darnit")

"But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later." (This reminds me of Éowyn's statement that those who do not use the sword can still die by it.)

Reminds me of what Rudy Guilliani said,

"When good people sit back, and let evil happen, that is the greatest of evil."

Also, got me thinking Treebeard seems very Grandpa-ish. As up above, he knows a lot of the stories from the past, you know those grandpa stories "I remember when....," "Did I tell you about the time..." Treebeard is like the Grandpa (only great, great, great, great, great, great, (times 3,000), to the hobbits. Or maybe even the grandpa of Middle-earth?